Refine
Departments, institutes and facilities
- Präsidium (398)
- Fachbereich Angewandte Naturwissenschaften (189)
- Fachbereich Informatik (178)
- Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften (152)
- Institut für Technik, Ressourcenschonung und Energieeffizienz (TREE) (133)
- Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften und Kommunikation (124)
- Internationales Zentrum für Nachhaltige Entwicklung (IZNE) (100)
- Institut für funktionale Gen-Analytik (IFGA) (72)
- Fachbereich Sozialpolitik und Soziale Sicherung (43)
- Institute of Visual Computing (IVC) (41)
Document Type
- Article (438)
- Part of Periodical (407)
- Conference Object (160)
- Part of a Book (83)
- Report (54)
- Working Paper (42)
- Preprint (19)
- Bachelor Thesis (17)
- Master's Thesis (13)
- Other (10)
Year of publication
Has Fulltext
- yes (1265) (remove)
Keywords
- Entrepreneurship (8)
- Ghana (8)
- Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (7)
- Machine Learning (7)
- Robotik (7)
- cytokine-induced killer cells (7)
- lignin (7)
- Digitalisierung (6)
- Kenya (6)
- Lignin (6)
There is severe clinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevalence among Ghanaians and many African countries. Foodbased diets has been suggested as a more sustainable approach to solving the VAD situation in Africa. In this study, A participatory action research between orange flesh sweet potato farmers, gari processors within central region and academia was adopted to develop gari containing provitamin A beta-carotene. Gari is a major staple for Ghanaians and people in the West African subregion due to its affordability and swelling capacity. It is mainly eaten raw with water, sugar, groundnut and milk as gari-soakings or with hot water to prepare gelatinized food called gari-kai in Ghana or “eba” among Nigerians. However, gari is limited in provitamin A carotenoids. Orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) is known to contain large amount of vitamin A precursor. Therefore, addition of OFSP to gari would have the potential to fight the high prevalence rate of vitamin A deficiency amongst less developed regions of Africa. To develop this, different proportions of orange fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) was used to substitute cassava mash and fermented spontaneously to produce composite gari - a gritty-crispy ready-to-eat food product. Both the amount of OFSP and the fermentation duration caused significant increases in the β-carotene content of the composite gari. OFSP addition reduced the luminance while roasting made the composite gari yellower when compared with the cake used. Addition of OFSP negatively affected the swelling capacity of the gari although not significant. The taste, texture, flavour and the overall preferences for the composite gari decreased due to the addition of the OFSP but fermentation duration (FD) improved them. The sample with 10% OFSP and FD of 1.81 days was found to produce the optimal gari. One-portion of the optimal gari would contribute to 34.75, 23.2, 23.2, 27, 17 and 16% of vitamin A requirements amongst children, adolescent, adult males, adult females, pregnant women and lactating mothers respectively. The study demonstrated that partial substitution of cassava with OFSP for gari production would have the potential to fight the high prevalence rate of vitamin A deficiency amongst less developed regions of Africa while involvement of farmers and processors prior to the design of research phase enhanced the adoption of intervention strategies.
Neuromorphic computing aims to mimic the computational principles of the brain in silico and has motivated research into event-based vision and spiking neural networks (SNNs). Event cameras (ECs) capture local, independent changes in brightness, and offer superior power consumption, response latencies, and dynamic ranges compared to frame-based cameras. SNNs replicate neuronal dynamics observed in biological neurons and propagate information in sparse sequences of ”spikes”. Apart from biological fidelity, SNNs have demonstrated potential as an alternative to conventional artificial neural networks (ANNs), such as in reducing energy expenditure and inference time in visual classification. Although potentially beneficial for robotics, the novel event-driven and spike-based paradigms remain scarcely explored outside the domain of aerial robots.
To investigate the utility of brain-inspired sensing and data processing in a robotics application, we developed a neuromorphic approach to real-time, online obstacle avoidance on a manipulator with an onboard camera. Our approach adapts high-level trajectory plans with reactive maneuvers by processing emulated event data in a convolutional SNN, decoding neural activations into avoidance motions, and adjusting plans in a dynamic motion primitive formulation. We conducted simulated and real experiments with a Kinova Gen3 arm performing simple reaching tasks involving static and dynamic obstacles. Our implementation was systematically tuned, validated, and tested in sets of distinct task scenarios, and compared to a non-adaptive baseline through formalized quantitative metrics and qualitative criteria.
The neuromorphic implementation facilitated reliable avoidance of imminent collisions in most scenarios, with 84% and 92% median success rates in simulated and real experiments, where the baseline consistently failed. Adapted trajectories were qualitatively similar to baseline trajectories, indicating low impacts on safety, predictability and smoothness criteria. Among notable properties of the SNN were the correlation of processing time with the magnitude of perceived motions (captured in events) and robustness to different event emulation methods. Preliminary tests with a DAVIS346 EC showed similar performance, validating our experimental event emulation method. These results motivate future efforts to incorporate SNN learning, utilize neuromorphic processors, and target other robot tasks to further explore this approach.
An essential measure of autonomy in service robots designed to assist humans is adaptivity to the various contexts of human-oriented tasks. These robots may have to frequently execute the same action, but subject to subtle variations in task parameters that determine optimal behaviour. Such actions are traditionally executed by robots using pre-determined, generic motions, but a better approach could utilize robot arm maneuverability to learn and execute different trajectories that work best in each context.
In this project, we explore a robot skill acquisition procedure that allows incorporating contextual knowledge, adjusting executions according to context, and improvement through experience, as a step towards more adaptive service robots. We propose an apprenticeship learning approach to achieving context-aware action generalisation on the task of robot-to-human object hand-over. The procedure combines learning from demonstration, with which a robot learns to imitate a demonstrator’s execution of the task, and a reinforcement learning strategy, which enables subsequent experiential learning of contextualized policies, guided by information about context that is integrated into the learning process. By extending the initial, static hand-over policy to a contextually adaptive one, the robot derives and executes variants of the demonstrated action that most appropriately suit the current context. We use dynamic movement primitives (DMPs) as compact motion representations, and a model-based Contextual Relative Entropy Policy Search (C-REPS) algorithm for learning policies that can specify hand-over position, trajectory shape, and execution speed, conditioned on context variables. Policies are learned using simulated task executions, before transferring them to the robot and evaluating emergent behaviours.
We demonstrate the algorithm’s ability to learn context-dependent hand-over positions, and new trajectories, guided by suitable reward functions, and show that the current DMP implementation limits learning context-dependent execution speeds. We additionally conduct a user study involving participants assuming different postures and receiving an object from the robot, which executes hand-overs by either exclusively imitating a demonstrated motion, or selecting hand-over positions based on learned contextual policies and adapting its motion accordingly. The results confirm the hypothesized improvements in the robot’s perceived behaviour when it is context-aware and adaptive, and provide useful insights that can inform future developments.
In this paper, the performance evaluation of Frequency Modulated Chaotic On-Off Keying (FM-COOK) in AWGN, Rayleigh and Rician fading channels is given. The simulation results show that an improvement in BER can be gained by incorporating the FM modulation with COOK for SNR values less than 10dB in AWGN case and less than 6dB for Rayleigh and Rician fading channels.
ICT integration by universities teaching professionals is emerging as a major concern, this study demonstrate the need to address the integration problem by encouraging existing metrics use in indexing ICT integration as an ICT governance strategy. Quality of integration depends on quality indexing which also depend on quality of existing metrics and their use. Considering the role that University Information Technology Teaching Professionals’ (UITTPs) continuous improvement indexing can offer, towards autonomic governance of the continuous emerging ICTs in the university teaching, this study examined extent in use of existing ICT integration metrics to index ICT integration by the UITTPs. Six metrics for ICT integration were investigated; time, workshop course content relevance, technical malfunctions, support conditions, support services, and motivation and commitment to student learning and staff professional development metrics. Descriptive survey design was used in which interviews were conducted to UITTPs in three (3) public and three (3) private purposively selected universities in Kenya. The findings were analyzed descriptively and inferentially using Kendall’s correlation of concordance and tested using Chi-square on the extent of concordance and presented with help of frequency tables, figures and percentages. The findings revealed that all the metrics are rarely used for indexing ICT integration (32.8%), and most UITTPs were in discordance on this level of all the six metrics use except for support condition. This implied that the use of metrics for indexing integration has not been formalized across the Kenyan universities. Universities need to be encouraged to identify suitable metrics, formalize them and improve their frequency in use. Secondly, socio based metrics such as content relevance are used more frequently for indexing integration as compared to Technical metrics, socio-technical metrics balance therefore need to be emphasized by the universities management when determining and using metrics for indexing ICT integration.
YAWL (Yet Another Workflow Language) is an open source Business Process Management System, first released in 2003. YAWL grew out of a university research environment to become a unique system that has been deployed worldwide as a laboratory environment for research in Business Process Management and as a productive system in other scientific domains.
With trainings and research oriented towards sustainable development since 2006 (Water and Sanitation, Infrastructure, Renewable Energies and Energy Processes), Foundation 2iE is positioning itself as a reference institute that trains innovative engineers-entrepreneurs for the needs and challenges of Africa’s development. Center of Excellence of the UEMOA and the World Bank, CSR is at the heart of the Strategy of the institute which aims to be a showcase in this field in Africa.
When users in virtual reality cannot physically walk and self-motions are instead only visually simulated, spatial updating is often impaired. In this paper, we report on a study that investigated if HeadJoystick, an embodied leaning-based flying interface, could improve performance in a 3D navigational search task that relies on maintaining situational awareness and spatial updating in VR. We compared it to Gamepad, a standard flying interface. For both interfaces, participants were seated on a swivel chair and controlled simulated rotations by physically rotating. They either leaned (forward/backward, right/left, up/down) or used the Gamepad thumbsticks for simulated translation. In a gamified 3D navigational search task, participants had to find eight balls within 5 min. Those balls were hidden amongst 16 randomly positioned boxes in a dark environment devoid of any landmarks. Compared to the Gamepad, participants collected more balls using the HeadJoystick. It also minimized the distance travelled, motion sickness, and mental task demand. Moreover, the HeadJoystick was rated better in terms of ease of use, controllability, learnability, overall usability, and self-motion perception. However, participants rated HeadJoystick could be more physically fatiguing after a long use. Overall, participants felt more engaged with HeadJoystick, enjoyed it more, and preferred it. Together, this provides evidence that leaning-based interfaces like HeadJoystick can provide an affordable and effective alternative for flying in VR and potentially telepresence drones.
The nature of the program was an exchange program between Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, University of Applied Sciences and the University of Cape Coast. The program was advertised and we applied. We were shortlisted for interview and we were selected as the candidates for the exchange program. The program took a period of five months. We set off from Accra, Ghana to Germany on 7th September 2015, and returned to Ghana on 25th January 2016.
The role of tourism entrepreneurship in rural development continues to be a subject of interest and debate among academia and practitioners. Theoretically, it is anticipated that tourism entrepreneurship will lead to livelihood diversification, enhancement and ultimately a revitalization of the rural economy. While tourism is posited as an accessible entrepreneurship pathway, there is a dearth of information regarding rural dwellers’ actual experiences with it, especially within the Ghanaian context. Using a case study approach and qualitative data from Wli; a rural tourism destination in Ghana, this paper delves into the opportunities and concerns associated with tourism entrepreneurship in rural areas. Data was obtained between November and December 2016 from 27 persons who were either tourism enterprise owners or employees. Findings from the study showed that entrepreneurial activities centred on the provision of accommodation, food and beverage, souvenir and guiding services. The nature of the activities enabled easy transfer of existing skills and knowledge. Further, entry into tourism entrepreneurship was perceived to be easy by the majority of study participants. These findings confirm the potential for tourism to be employed in boosting entrepreneurial activities in rural areas. Nevertheless, there were concerns regarding access to credit, institutional support, unhealthy competitions, low incomes, unguaranteed pensions, and seasonality and skewness of demand. These concerns threatened the growth and sustainability of tourism entrepreneurship within the community. From a policy perspective, there is a need for institutional recognition and support for tourism entrepreneurial intentions and activities in rural areas. Practice-wise, credit facilities need to be designed specifically for tourism-related rural enterprises. Further, periodic skills and knowledge augmentation programmes must be initiated to help expand the skill sets for the rural entrepreneurs. Finally, there is a need for the formation of traderelated networks to provide a platform for knowledge and experience sharing among the entrepreneurs.